Chapter 449: Ambition
The primary purpose of this administrative reform was to support the rational industrial layout of the interior in line with the Central Railway. As a result, Zambia, the Southern Congo Highlands (Katanga Plateau), and Zimbabwe were divided into three separate provinces.
Schwaben Province focused mainly on copper mining, but also included cobalt, tin, uranium, and gold (the latter located in Hesse Province). Its population was primarily concentrated in the southern tropical savanna; the north was dominated by tropical rainforest.
Compared to the former Katanga Province of Congo in Ernst's previous life, East Africa's Schwaben Province was geographically smaller but still held over 60% of the mineral resources once found in Congo.
Historically, Katanga's resources—especially cobalt and uranium—had been dominated by American interests. Katanga accounted for 70% of global cobalt production, 60% of uranium-238, about 10% of tin, and around 8% of copper (based on varying sources).
These rich resources made Katanga a hotspot for conflict in the past, attracting meddling from Britain, the U.S., Belgium, Russia—and even Rwanda.
Hohenzollern Province was centrally located with convenient north–south transport links, making it a hub for the flow of resources between Schwaben to the north and Matabele Province to the south.
Matabele Province, i.e., Zimbabwe, was most famous for the Great Zimbabwe ruins, which spanned the central region along the Central Railway.
This explained why the Central Railway ran from Harare to Bulawayo, rather than taking a shortcut along the route used by the British via Victoria Falls. Instead, it crossed east of what would later become Kariba Dam via a major bridge.
On this point, Ernst fully applied lessons from the past. For example, the Kariba Dam—one of the world's largest artificial lakes—had a storage capacity of 185 billion cubic meters, with a regular reservoir level of 487.79m, dead storage at 475.5m, and 60.85 billion cubic meters of active regulation capacity. It was shared between Zambia and Zimbabwe. By comparison, China's Three Gorges Dam had only 39.3 billion cubic meters of capacity.
Recreating a mega-project like the Kariba Dam was on Ernst's wishlist—but East Africa didn't yet have the means.
So, the Kariba project stayed on Ernst's personal "to-do list," waiting for the right time.
In his timeline, Kariba Lake stretched over 200 km east to west, which pushed the Central Railway eastward by roughly the same distance. Consequently, the route from Lusaka to Harare and Bulawayo formed a large triangle.
Still, thanks to Pretoria, the overall railway layout remained relatively straight. It also passed through major cities, ensuring high utility.
Once completed, the Central Railway would stimulate inland economic activity and help develop the new port of New Hamburg in the south.
Ernst planned to postpone development in the former Transvaal Republic, but the former Zulu Kingdom (now Southern Frontier Province) wouldn't have to wait. The Zulu lands were rich in coal and had port access.
Thus, developing coal in the Drakensberg Mountains became a priority. It could be shipped by sea to support East Africa's coastal industries in cities like Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo, Tanga, Mombasa, and Mtwara.
After all, Britain had abundant coal—at home and in its colonies. If they were greedy enough to covet even the Zulu coal fields, Ernst would gladly teach them a lesson.
Meanwhile, the ongoing global economic crisis was pushing the world toward a new scramble for colonies. Italy and Belgium had already made their moves.
Italy solidified control in southeastern Abyssinia and, driven by the crisis, was now betting its national future on the Abyssinian Empire.
Leopold II of Belgium was once again showing his historical cunning—tricking Congo tribes west of the Ubangi River into handing over sovereignty by various means.
With these two nations getting involved while the other great powers remained on the sidelines, it became clear that the pressure from competition hadn't yet been felt by all.
East Africa's existence had largely relieved Germany and Austria-Hungary of the economic crisis. Unlike the U.S.—which now faced an even worse downturn than it had historically—German and Austro-Hungarian economies were showing signs of improvement.
Germany's factories mostly continued operations, and the Hechingen Consortium's competition with American industries (especially in electricity) kept American steel, power, and other products out of Europe. Meanwhile, U.S. agricultural exports suffered even more than in the original timeline, especially in grains and tobacco.
Paradoxically, due to rising unemployment and an uncertain future, domestic tobacco consumption in the U.S. skyrocketed.
Still, the American crisis wasn't quite as catastrophic as it could've been, since East Africa absorbed much of the excess labor.
The East African Immigration Bureau actively recruited unemployed German workers and farmers in U.S. German communities—even advertising in German-language newspapers. Many Germans rode East Africa's "slave ships" across the Atlantic.
Why were there German farmers in urban German-American communities? Blame East Africa. Amid the agricultural crisis, southern U.S. plantations began cutting costs—replacing white workers with extremely cheap Black laborers.
These Black workers, technically "contracted laborers" hired via Haiti, didn't require wages. Plantation owners had no legal obligation to pay them—just feed them. And food was in surplus, sitting unsold in warehouses.
These "slaves" were fully legal. Old or injured workers were simply released into society, as post-slavery America had plenty of free Black people.
As this wave of neo-slavery swept southern plantations, life for poor whites got worse—including German-American farmers.
With German-Americans being the main labor pool in the U.S. and disproportionately unemployed, East Africa absorbed them quickly.
In just the first three months of 1874, over 200,000 German-Americans moved to East Africa—surpassing Germany and Austria to become the kingdom's largest German-speaking immigrant source.
As Europe and America competed, the Far East became a new global focus—soaked up much of the surplus production from the crisis.
Compared to the relatively restrained West, Japan acted directly—attacking Danwan Island in the southeastern Chinese coast. But the island's upper-level government (Fujian) caught wind of the plan and smashed Japan's forces.
East Africa's consulate guard in Zhuhai unexpectedly profited from the conflict, though not without casualties. German mercenaries had a global reputation—and Ernst's ancestors had been mercenaries too, so this was hardly unusual in Europe.
As a pioneer in African colonization and development, Ernst had no intention of sitting out this new global land grab. Beyond consolidating East Africa's existing gains, he aimed to push further into the continent. Once the East African Navy was strong enough, Ernst had plans for the Indian Ocean—and perhaps even the Pacific. He was ready to dip his toes into deeper waters.
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